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UNrrEn TATES ATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. BALES, OF WALLA WVALLA, WASHINGTON TERRITORY.

SNAP-HOOK AND BUCKLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 234,738, dated November 23, 1880.

Application filed October 6, 1880. (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE E. BALES, of \Valla Walla, Walla Walla county, Washington Territory, have invented a new and Improved Combined Snap-Hook and Buckle, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a more convenient and secure device for breaststraps, hitching and other straps or lines on which snap-hooks are commonly used.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal side elevation of the device. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same, and Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the same, with parts broken away to show other parts.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

In the drawings, A represents the snap-hook, having its shank reduced so as to form shoulders a a, having the extremity of its hooked point rabbeted on one side, as shown at b, and having the end of its shank drawn down, as shown at c, for the purpose of making a suitable joint at the point of connection with the buckle B. A is a segmental locking-piece, secured by its rings (I don the reduced portion of the shank of the snap-hook A. Between the shoulders aa and f is a spiral spring, having one end secured to the shank of the hook A, while the free end of said spring f bears against the side of the lockingpieee A, as shown in Fig. 1, whereby the lateral rotation of the said piece A is restricted, and whereby it is closed against the rabbeted end I) of the snap'hook A and retained in that looked positioh, so that the outer face of the hook and locking-piece A A shall be flush and even with each other.

To the drawn-down or flattened end a of the snap-hook A is fixed a buckle, B, projecting in a straight line therefrom, said buckle having a horizontal, square, single-looped frame, g, provided with tongue h and a loop, i, that projects upward at right angles from the rear of said frame 9. i

0 represents a hitching-strap, to which the combined snap-hook and buckle is designed to be secured, as shown in the drawings, wherein said strap 0 is passed through the loop of frame g, and is secured by the tongue it passing through a suitable hole, 70, in said strap, and the end of said strap 0 is then inserted into the loop 45, and thereby held in place.

This snap-hook A is more easily uusnapped and less liable to become clogged with ice or mud than those now in use, and the buckle B obviates the necessity of sewing billets on the hitching-straps, or on any straps or lines on which a snap-hook is used, and also saves the labor of sewing on the snap-hook itself, and makes a stronger connection between the strap 0 and snap-hook A.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent In a snap-hook, the combination, with the hook A, having side rabbet at its point and shoulders to a on its shank, of the locking-piece GEORGE EDWARD BALES.

Witnesses LOUIS L. BALES, J AS. W. SWEYEs. 

